Check Out Anthony Manning’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Anthony Manning.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
A few months before being discharged from the Army I adopted a 3-month-old German Sheppard Mix puppy to bring home with me. I named this puppy Ghillie and he became one of the most important things in my life. I quickly realized upon our return to my hometown of Pittsburgh, PA that I had no idea how to raise a puppy or how much work it would be. Luckily, I knew Vinnie Somma from when we were in high school together and he owned “Say It Once Dog Training (SIODT)”. We stay in touch over the next several months training Ghillie together and becoming friends.

One day we talked about how I wasn’t happy with a “9:00 am-5:00 pm desk job” and that he was looking for a new dog trainer for his company – the rest was history! For the first time since I was in the military, I realized that I had found my calling in this new career of dog training, which I absolutely loved. I started working for SIODT over five years ago and the company continues to grow and expand with a fantastic group of trainers I am proud to call colleagues. In late 2021 I expressed interest to Vinnie in opening a new branch of SIODT in Nashville, TN. By January 1, 2023, we announced that we were opening in Nashville so I sold my house and moved to Nashville by March 2023!

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
The transition from Pittsburgh to Nashville had obstacles as you would expect. Quickly selling my house, leaving my friends and family, and moving out of state, all while opening the new branch in Nashville kept me very busy! It was a difficult learning experience for me to build a business branch from scratch – networking, scheduling applications, hiring new trainers, etc. I had a lot of hiccups along the way but luckily between the support of Vinnie and the SIODT we hired our second Nashville trainer named Jake and we hit the ground running!

I was thankful to connect with “Wags and Walks Nashville” and ” Metro Animal Care and Control (MACC)” early on who have been so welcoming and helped us to grow and excel. We all have the same goal in mind… help as many dogs as we can. If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life – because of our amazing clients and colleagues I am so lucky that I get to this every day and call it “work”.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
We specialize in behavior modification and basic obedience, I would say we are most known for doing private one-on-one in-home dog training where I come to your house and fix the problems you are having where you are having…in your home.

We also hold group classes on the weekends where we teach structured on-leash obedience, teaching dogs how to behave around other dogs in high-stimulus environments. I am most proud of the community Jake and I have built here in Nashville over the very short time we have been here. We have been able to bring so many people together who have now become friends by doing our training together.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
My biggest Mentor is Vinnie Somma, he has shown me the ropes since day one. Back when I started with Vinnie it was just him and I as trainers and we spent 7 days a week together with 10-12 hour days just learning everything we possibly could from each other.

Jake was already training dogs before he came on with us and he has taught me so much with his knowledge and approach to doing things. Jenilee runs our boarding facility in Pittsburgh and she was always there for me when I started if I had any questions on how things worked or even if I just wanted to talk, she has become one of my best friends.

Contact Info:

• Website: Sayitoncedogtraining.com
• Instagram: @anthony_sayitonce